(born 20 April 1940 in Tokyo, Japan)
[The Way of Aiki, by Jose Carlos Escobar, MA., Trafford Publishing] was one of the last live-in students (''
uchideshi
is a Japanese term for a live-in student/apprentice who trains under and assists a sensei on a full-time basis. The system exists in
''kabuki'', ''rakugo'', ''shogi'', '' igo'', ''aikido'', ''sumo'', ''karate'' and other modern Japanese martial ...
'') of the founder of
aikido
Aikido ( , , , ) is a modern Japanese martial art that is split into many different styles, including Iwama Ryu, Iwama Shin Shin Aiki Shuren Kai, Shodokan Aikido, Yoshinkan, Renshinkai, Aikikai and Ki Aikido. Aikido is now practiced in around 1 ...
,
Morihei Ueshiba
was a Japanese martial artist and founder of the martial art of aikido. He is often referred to as "the founder" or , "Great Teacher/Old Teacher (old as opposed to ''waka (young) sensei'')".
The son of a landowner from Tanabe, Ueshiba st ...
. He entered the
Aikikai Hombu Dojo
The Aikikai is the original school of Aikido. It is centered on the Aikikai Foundation in Japan, and its figurehead is the Doshu (the family heir of the founder of Aikido). It is represented globally through the International Aikido Federation.
...
in 1956 and after a year as a regular aikido student was accepted as an ''uchideshi'' by Ueshiba and went with him to live, work and train at the
Iwama dojo Iwama may refer to:
*Iwama, Ibaraki, a former town in Nishiibaraki District, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan
*Iwama Station, a train station in Kasama, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan
*Iwama dojo, an aikido dojo
*Iwama style, a style of aikido
People with the ...
. He received his 3rd
dan
Dan or DAN may refer to:
People
* Dan (name), including a list of people with the name
** Dan (king), several kings of Denmark
* Dan people, an ethnic group located in West Africa
**Dan language, a Mande language spoken primarily in Côte d'Ivoir ...
(sandan) directly from Ueshiba and served him as his assistant/attendant, scribe, ''
uke
Uke may refer to:
People
* Uke Clanton (1898–1960), Major League Baseball first baseman who played for one season. Nicknamed "Cat", he played for the Cleveland Indians for one game on September 21, 1922
* Uke Rugova
* Sıtkı Üke (1876 ...
'', and assisted in instructing when people came from Tokyo to Iwama to study aikido.
On 10 October 1979, Kurita was given a
Shihan
is a Japanese term that is used in many Japanese martial arts as an honorific title for expert or senior instructors. It can be translated as "master instructor".
The use of the term is specific to a school or organization, as is the process of ...
license by
Doshu Kisshomaru Ueshiba and the
Aikikai Foundation
The Aikikai is the original school of Aikido. It is centered on the Aikikai Foundation in Japan, and its figurehead is the Doshu (the family heir of the founder of Aikido). It is represented globally through the International Aikido Federation. ...
and dispatched to Mexico City to be the official Aikikai representative for Mexico. He currently holds the rank of 7th dan.
Kurita has devoted the last 30 years to working, developing and teaching what he learned during his time as an uchideshi, the current work and result being Kurita Juku Aiki, in and of which there are dojo and members in Mexico, the United States, France, and Argentina.
Kurita Juku Aiki - Aikido in Mexico
After taking a hiatus from Aikido for 9 years after the death of Ueshiba, in 1978, Kurita was urged to come back to aikido by his fellow uchideshi
Mitsunari Kanai
Mitsunari Kanai (1939 – March 28, 2004) was an aikido and iaido teacher born in Japan, who spent most of his teaching career in the United States. He was an 8th dan teacher with the title shihan in the organisation Aikikai.
Life
Kanai Sensei w ...
and
Kazuo Chiba
Kazuo Chiba (千葉和雄 also T.K. Chiba; February 5, 1940 – June 5, 2015) was a Japanese aikido teacher and founder of Birankai International. He served for seven years as uchideshi at the Aikikai Hombu Dojo before being dispatched abroad to ...
(Birankai). He was sent to the United States and then directed to Mexico City by
(New York Aikikai).
He arrived in Mexico City on 14 May 1979. In 1980, the Asociacion Mexicana de Aikido was formed, and from 1989 to 1999 held annual international seminars with guests Mitsunari Kanai, Yoshimitsu Yamada, Ichiro Shibata, Kazuo Chiba, T.S Okuyama, and M. Murishige.
In 1999, Kurita Juku Aiki was started in order to take Aikido one step further in its development by rescuing all the original teachings of the Founder of Aikido, Morihei Ueshiba. The Central Dojo is in Mexico City and is devoted not only to transmit the teaching of Aiki in its purest form but to develop a theory that will launch it to a better understanding apart from all the martial references that had made it similar to old martial arts. Kurita Juku Aiki works with students from other parts of Mexico and with seminars in both Mexico and the United States, as well as with Aikikai Hombu Dojo and the United States Aikido Federation.
Kurita Juku Aiki - Aikido in the United States
In 1995 the first schools derived by Kurita Shihan outside of Mexico were formed in the United States, and over the years there are KJA dojo and classes in Texas, in: San Antonio, Laredo, San Marcos, New Braunfels and Wimberley.
References
External links
Kurita Juku Aiki
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kurita, Yutaka
1940 births
Living people
Japanese aikidoka